Bill Mercer: Damager of democracy

The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia deserves respect for his long tenure on the court. He has been called a giant in his handling of the law. But what kind of giant?

Let’s juxtapose two rulings that hit at the very foundation of our democracy.

Citizens United opened the floodgates of corporate and billionaire money if not to directly buy elections certainly, with tons of money for a candidate, but to shape the results of elections such as the current Republican Senate.

The other decision: eliminating the Voting Rights Act, which opened the floodgates of right-wing-controlled state legislatures to prevent citizens from voting by instituting voter ID, changing polling places, shortening hours of voting, shortening times of early voting. Why do this? The myth that there is rampant voter fraud.

Two decisions that allow the people with enormous wealth to purchase elections with overwhelming amounts of money for one candidate and to stop the average person from voting, particularly African-Americans, Hispanics and the poor.

The basic premise of our democracy – one person, one vote – has been corrupted by these decisions by Scalia and voting fellows.

This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Bill Mercer: Damager of democracy."